CONTENTS XV 



ons and bitterns — Snipe — Sadness of bird-life — The for- 

 saken shores — Solitude — Beauty of the river — Its maj- 

 esty — The delta — Disintegration — The river in flood — 

 The "bore" — Meeting of river and sea — The blue tomb 

 ^Shores of Gulf 63 



Chapter V. Light, Air, and Color. — Popular ideas 

 — Sunlight on desert — Glare and heat — Pure sunlight — 

 Atmospheric envelope — Vapor particles in air — Clear air 

 — Dust particles — Hazes — Seeing the desert air — Sea- 

 breezes on desert — Colored air — Different hues — Pro- 

 ducing color — Refracted rays — Cold colors, how produced 

 — Warm colors — Sky colors — Color produced by dust — 

 Effect of heat — Effect of winds — Sand-storms — Reflec- 

 tions upon sky — Blue, yellow, and pink hazes — The dust- 

 veil — Summer coloring — Local hues — Greens of desert 

 plants — Color of the sands — Sands in mirage — Color of 

 mountain walls — Weather staining — Influence of the air 

 — Peak of Baboquivari — Buttes and spires — Sun-shafts 

 through canyons — Complementary hues in shadow — Col- 

 ored shadows — Blue shadows upon salt-beds — How light 

 makes color — Desert sunsets 77 



Chapter VI. Desert Sky and Clouds. — Common- 

 place things of Nature — The blue sky — Changes in the 

 blue — Dawns on the desert — Blue as a color — Sky from 

 mountain heights— Blackness of space — Bright sky-col- 

 ors — Horizon skies — Spectrum colors — Bands of yellow 

 — The orange sky — Desert-clouds — Rainfall — Effect of 

 the nimbus— Cumuli — Heap-cloudg at sunset — Strati — 

 Cirri — Ice clouds— Fire-clouds — The celestial tapestry — 

 The desert moon — Rings and rainbows — Moonlight — 

 Stars — The midnight sky — Alone in the desert — The mys- 

 teries — Space and immensity — The silences — The cry of 

 the human 95 



